Fleur-De-Lis

PC Master Race here, but I really loved the original XBox. Between Starwars Battlefront and Knights of the Old Republic I spent months on that thing.

 I don't think so, my family has an xbox 360 elite and we haven't had any issues with it.

Thanks for the answer! If i may ask though, do you know what generation and how long you have had it? How often it is played helps too. I am really skeptical about Xbox's because my brother in law had the first Xbox that worked fine one day, then red ringed for no reason the next. Similar issues for Xbox 360, though in that case it was the black one before the elite. Honestly, they have a really bad track record to me, more so since i have seen it happen.

Playstation 1 was my first console, so theres always a special place for it ♥

Playstation 4 just because that is my only other console aside from the good o'l ps1

On the topic of talking about consoles, do Xbox 360 (7th generation) aka the "Value pack" do those still have that hardware  failure issues pretty much all Xbox seem to have? I ask the same question for the Xbox One, as i considered getting one a few years in the future. (these are questions no one seems to answer ....)

So I have a Dell Inspiron 15, 5000 series (the 5555). It was a present I got a while back (Super helpful for college! its mostly going to be a work computer.) However for certain reasons (such as how my favorite game series Hyperdimension Neptunia does not work properly on my desktop and locks up; but works perfectly fine on my laptop) I plan on doing light gaming on it, however over the span of half an hour to just over an hour the laptop starts getting pretty hot (not much though), at its hottest so far at almost an hour and a half it gets comparable to the heat a PS4 outputs! Which is pretty dang hot. There have been no overheating issues thus far, but I would still like to keep it a nice cozy and cool temperature.

So with that I had decided that I should invest into a laptop cooling pad, one with a fan and such. However, here is where things start getting a bit complicated. The reason I specifically mentioned the model of my laptop is so people can familiarize themselves a bit with its hardware layout to best determine which laptop cooling pad would be best suited for the job.

A majority of the heat is from the upper and middle left, and on the lower right.The best images of its underside I could find was here http://laptopmedia.com/highlights/dell-inspiron-5558-15-5000-first-impressions-mid-range-multimedia-laptop/ just use the pictures as reference. (as only the layout is in common, mine is an AMD version)

Since this is my first laptop, and more specifically, the first time I am buying a cooling pad for a laptop, I want some opinions on what to get since there are apparently so many different kinds of laptop cooling pads.

note: all links below are from amazon.

Here are two prime examples Cooler Master notepal x-slim, I am not sure what the big difference is between that the X2 and the X3. Then there are things like the tecknet last notable one I can think of us these strange 4 fan ones such as EGOGO laptop cooler

So with all that story and examples out there ... anyone care to offer suggestions and feedback on which would be best? please keep the price range $30 or less, however if you really believe its a particularly good and high quality cooling pad then I guess i'll up to to $35

I am hoping for a life span of at least a year. keep the searches limited to amazon or newegg, thanks.

Lastly. I would like to say I am personally leaning towards the cooler master notepal x-slim.

My thoughts are either on Avast Antivirus, or Bitdefender free edition. Please cast your poll in the vote and do feel free to offer a comment or explanation on as to why you would prefer that one, as it will help me come to a decision.

I would like to mention the laptop will primarily be used for work related purposes, however as gaming is my primary form of entertainment I will need an antivirus that will be video game friendly (which Avast and Bitdefender seem to boast.)

I tried putting Bitdefender free edition on my dad's laptop, it didn't work out as well as I would have liked since the "Login" button never worked. It always ended up as an empty white window that never loaded or showed the fields to login. Though apparently my brother in law uses the free edition of Bitdefender just fine on 3+ different computers. But because of my experience with it I am now skeptical of it.

I have been using Avast antivirus for a good many years, its like o'l reliable to me at this point, however it bothers me that they keep trying to upsell various products to you these days. It is very annoying. Due to budget constraints I am limiting to free edition (Though if anyone is feeling generous I wont say no to a gift hahaha!

Question:

As a serious question to people who have subscribed to the premium versions of Avast though. I would like to ask, just what are their real pricing anyways? As a long time user I have noticed long ago that they always say "on sale" or "special black Friday price" and such. However the price itself is always the same thing, a crossed out larger number with a smaller one being the real price. For example "Internet Security" version says $49.99 $29.99 So how does that really work? that is the first time buyer price and then its $49.99 a year? ... also the costs themselves are yearly? Why cant they just give it to use straight instead of these stupid and highly annoying obfisticated business practices.

When I like, first got my computer it had WIN 8.1 then I like, upgraded to WIN 10 and its so not better at all. Honestly like, with how bad Microsoft is doing right now I will like, ether A: find a way to downgrade to WIN 7 and stay with it even after its unsupported or B: switch to MAC OS.

Well you could probably simply purchase Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 somewhere on the internet like Amazon or possibly Newegg, then just install all the updates and ride out the rest of their lifetime (support for the OS, at the very least the security updates)

Honestly instead of Mac OS, I wold sooner recommend Linux, the most popular OS of which being Ubuntu. But hey whatever floats your boat. (Also keep in mind PC gaming is very limited for anything that is not Windows ... or Steam OS.

Holy crap, during the night time it would do the same thing for me, guess I am not the only one dealing with this problem.

Even to this date and late into the game? Sheesh what are those jackwagons at Microsoft doing.

We should not be having to deal with inconceivable and seemingly unprovoked problems like this! You shouldn't have random spells of terrible internet speeds for no apparent reason, and I definitely shouldn't have to deal with my start menu randomly breaking for no readily apparent reason!

These start menu problems scare me. After all, when that doesn't work, various important menus for windows 10, especially those for trying to fix it do not work, short of reformatting it from a disc or system restore (which somehow helps; and is thankfully available through the control panel). Because when the start menu (and various other functions related to it do not work) Using the start menu -> settings, and everything within that does not work, not even the personalize options (which give an error message saying files are missing; or something like that).

*edit* After attempting to use the "Reset this PC" option and opt for "clean everything", time and time again, even after restarting, shutdowns and otherwise. It simply tells me "There was a problem resetting your PC No changes were made" So basically, this thing is useless, I am now going to attempt using an ISO I burned to a disc in hopes that it will be enough to FINALLY format this stupid thing and do a clean install of Windows 10. Maybe then, will the stupid thing finally work properly like it is supposed to.

*Edit 2* I finished formatting things (or "resetting the PC" as Windows 10 calls it) wiping my 2Tb hard drive apparently took roughly 8 hours. It seems I did not need to install any drivers for Windows 10, even on a clean installation from ground zero. Windows 10 automatically installed the latest version (of the correct) audio driver, and it seems I did not need to install my LAN card drivers or AMD chipsets (I base this on the fact everything seems to work fine so far, and my Ethernet card works fine despite not installing the drivers for it; as after formatting and installing Windows 7 I had to install the drivers before the Ethernet card would even work.)

So pretty much All I had to do after resetting the PC was install graphics card driver/s, antivirus, and personal programs (like steam, games, browsers, bookmarks, etc.) Oh and personal files like background collections and music. My old wired Xbox 360 controller works fine as a just plug in play (You used to have to install the "xbox 360 companion app" or something like that, just  for it to work on Windows 7). I did have to install the Logitech Gaming Software again for my mouse and headset though, they work fine without it, but full functionality needs that app.

On a similar note, I would like to mention that Windows 10 only saves (and uploads) your current wallpaper for use across all devices.

Once again, I am suffering from CRITICAL issues involving my start menu and windows settings menus. Except this time, it wouldn't say anything was wrong, nothing would start up (not even the clock) on the system tray.

None of my quick launch icons would show, the search Windows (aka Cortana) would not work, 'nor the "Task view" button. and especially not the start menu. Yet all desktop icons and file browsing would work fine, as for most menus (windows settings from the "This computer" button would not work, you could click but nothing would happen, and right clicking to "personalize" the pc would just give an error saying files are missing.

The last major update was on 12/18/2015 there were no updates from windows since then. yet suddenly today at 12/21/2015 the start menu would not work, even after shutting down the computer and leaving it off for 1 minute, I tried that 5 times. System restore somehow managed to fix my start menu and taskbar, as well as the rest of windows 10 system menus, though I got an error message saying that system restore could not restore avast antivirus.

On a whim, I have decided to finally create and installation disc in case of emergencies in the event I lose complete functionality of the desktop (because something dangerously close to that keeps happening.)

After ensuring games, game saves, background, music collections, and work related things are backed up and up to date (as well as all necessary important drivers; especially for my Ethernet card! which still does not have a windows 10 version, but luckily the windows 7 version still works fine). *small edit* Do not forget to backup your favorite browser's bookmarks people!

Speaking of which, video card, Ethernet card, motherboard (chipset?) are the only particular drivers I should be concerned about right? Granted I also have one of those 12 in 1 card readers on my desktop, but I do not recall a particular driver being necessary for it.

Anyone have thoughts on bitdefender? I was thinking of trying a different antivirus program, in the event that in some obscure and weird reason that it may be causing problems with the OS (though it happens rarely, the problems are often severe; I am not implying that the antivirus is the cause, simply that it is a nearly unwarranted concern)

For now, after downloading the necessary installation related things. I am going to use the windows 10 settings -> Update & Security -> Recovery -> Reset this PC. from there I will use that to basically do the "clean install" option. and hopefully that will solve all my problems. I will probably write down my windows product ID while i am at it, I would hate to lose my free windows 10 pro edition. That defer updates button seems to be getting more and more enticing to use with how horribly it seems to get set back.

I should be back within a few days of attempting to do a clean install of Windows 10.

On a side note, although many of you do not see me much these days, I am still around, mostly just browsing my friend's status updates daily, though I do not always respond to them.

Yup yup! I also managed to snag one of those mmorpg mounts for registering ...I already forgot its name ... the razorblade? Its a motorcycle. It is only redeemable on one character though sadly. I also used one of my extra emails because apparently mmorpg can be spammy ... I also promptly regret even bothering but hey free mount right?

Also, i figured out that my character is on Entity ... I plan on making that Cassian also on entity

Wildstar is now Free to Play as of September 29th, 2015 so it is the perfect time to bring this thread back and get some conversations going! Meet some friends, and spend some well deserved $$ on Wildstar!

I always loved Wildstar, though I only played it for about 3 months, but had to stop since I did not have the time to play it and make the monthly subscription worthwhile, though the game itself, and the company that developed it certainly deserves the revenue for what they do. From what I learned the game population went way down than from its launch (it had 8+ PvE servers and they were still jam packed, but over time they lowered to one "mega server" for PvE and another for PvP a few months ago).

This is going to get a bit like a salespitch, but I hope this shows my enthusiasm towards this. These people are so awesome to their customers, that even though the game went free to play, those who bought the game before still have all of their old benefits to be the same experience as before the free to play transition! That is a huge plus to me.

Now with this new Free to Play transition (which does not inhibit game content! its mostly just for cosmetics and convenience so far). I feel they deserve money more than ever, especially with how good to their customers they seem to be! (They even have an account-wide reward system through something they call "Cosmic points" which are obtained as you spend money on Wildstar. Oh but it gets better! Just about EVERYTHING in the cash shop ... can be bought without spending $$! even the premium membership! Just using a currency called "omnibits" earned through playing (quests, bosses, dungeons, adventures, expeditions, etc.), premium membership can be bought just by spending normal game currency too, through the "CREDD" exchange" system.

But I will stop rambling on about how awesome I think carbine, NCSoft, and Wildstar is. It is free to play! Go out there and see how wonderful this game is yourself   And for those interested, I play an Aurin Exile (Esper class). I plan on making a Cassian Dominion down the line, it seems my old one got wiped (it was a low level character probably in the tutorial.) I forgot the name of the server. But basically I plan on staying on the original megaserver. (they made a -2 temp megaserver to help with the new HUGE influx of players.) By the way, some people say the game is kind of laggy or something, honestly I haven't seen ANY of that, though I wouldn't be surprised with how many people are hopping back into the game with waiting lines sometimes reaching 1000+ (though at launch it wasn't surprising to reach 3000+)

*edit* Equestria Daily has a guild in Wildstar named "Space Ponies" though it has many inactive players still returning to the game, so it is getting new life breathed into it ... some one tell Sethisto about that

Yup. There's a lot more too like the keyloggers.

Turning off Cortana would be good as a starter.

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/oQDnY

 

I would also Google 'Windows 10 Privacy' or something like that to get a lot more resources that would show what others need turning off.

 

Other nasty ones would be to do with WiFi (gotta search the WiFi settings) and Windows Defender (sending "sample" files).

Already done with Cortana, also my computer does not use WiFi so that does not pertain to me. Though I am aware of the Wi-Fi password nonsense that Windows 10 uses. I think the person that thought up that feature is an idiot. We already have an easy feature to have guests connect wo Wi-fi networks. its called Aoss. One push of a button and a device waiting to connect to the router and tada!

Windows 10 has serious privacy issues. Fortunately, we're able to turn most of these features off such as your PC acting like a Windows Update server for the internet world (which can eat a lot of data).

What is this feature? Where can i find it? How does it work? And most importantly, how can i turn it off?

*edit* I figured it out. Its under the "Update & Security" section of settings, Windows update -> advanced options -> Choose how updates are delivered.

Main problem for me is that w10 is even more insecure, sends even more of my data to Microsoft and forces me to use it if I wan the new directX version.

Your not missing all that much really. Despite all the fancy new tools, gadgets, widgets, doodads that come in the form of tiles. I just about never really use them, they ended up eye candy.

Also for the new Direct X version, that only really matters with newer video cards (The Direct X used is dependent on video card). Or at least that is my understanding of it. Its not something I really look into.

You aren't missing much with Windows Store, just a few desktop versions of things you can get on the Internet (and smartphones) anyway.

But the good news is, it's only been a couple of weeks - Microsoft is probably gonna iron out these things soon enough

I wish they would hurry up and iron out the problems with putting the computer to sleep mode. For the second time I had a big problem with it.

 It gave me a blue window that said

"Critical Error

Start menu and Cortana aren't working. We'll try to fix it the next time you sign in." then had a button "Sign out now"

I tried restarting twice, a shut down twice. The shut down attempts were spaced out. But after the second time it FINALLY started working normally again. Also note this problem is different than the one I had last time, though at least I have a window that lets me exit the broken desktop (aside form shutting down or force shut down via the power button)

By the looks of the votes it looks like I will keep it around. I don't think I will have any other technical issues so it should be fine ... or at least it better be!

Funny how the two people who voted no, did not post on as to why I shouldn't keep windows 10 over windows 7.

Thanks for your feedback and votes, I suppose I will keep windows 10 for now then. Feel free to keep voting and commenting, the thread could probably just be used as a consensus afterwards, that is, for those thinking about which OS to keep.

So basically, I want to decide whether or not to keep windows 10 or revert back to my previous OS, Windows 7. You know, before that 30 days are up and I can no longer revert to 7 (conveniently). I can't quite bring myself to make a decision so I figure I would get some opinions and feedback on what to do.

I am really tired right now, but I want to get this thread started so I can start getting some opinions. Answer yes or no in the poll, and state reasons on why if you so choose.

Here is a thread on the one problem I have had with Windows 10 so far. You know, not including the controversies and questionable decisions Microsoft is making or made, etc. I will be back and polish the thread later.

Side note: I use ONLY an Ethernet cable to connect to the internet, however there is a possibility I may have to buy a wireless card or adapter for the desktop. I bring this up only because some people apparently have trouble with using Wi-Fi on windows 10 for whatever reason.

Well, congratulations. I think Flash Sentry can now has some space to breath as no one will really be hunting him and calling him waifu stealer . 

Oh I think you'll find we wont be seeing him for quite some time. *Katz evil laugh*

p.s.  Think Courage the cowardly dog as a reference.

Meanwhile ... Flash Sentry is being entertained by a long roll of bubble wrap.

I am just thinking about how awesome our staff is. They are so very friendly and awesome, yet silly enough to do silly things, remember that one thing?.    *Mystery Intensifies*

To have really made an official Waifu group!

We ♥ our most wonderful staff!

Now, how can everypony share one waifu?

I have a better question, how can one possibly handle that absurdly adorable avatar you have!?

Keep your eyes on that Flash Sentry! He's a sneaky one!

*Mischievous smile* Let the shipping begin!

I've still been on the fence about upgrading so far. Is it worth it for a high-end gaming rig? Is there enough support out for 10 yet even with DX12 or does that alone make it worthwhile?

Is it worth it for a high end gaming rig? Not yet, the main issue is motherboard compatibility I would think. Though mine works more or less perfectly, the only windows 10 drivers that have been released are audio drivers, which I haven't bothered installing because the old windows 7 drivers still work perfectly.

As for if there is enough support for 10 with DX 12, its only natural it is! that is the key feature the OS is capable of. The problem is video cards and games with DX12 support or availability. No that alone does not make it worthwhile, that is, unless you feel it would.

Not quite! I heard everything but a hello!   

Welcome to the poniverse though! We hope you enjoy your stay~♪ Of course you will! All pony all the time hahahaha

Welcome to the forums! We sincerely think you will love it here . I question your what you mean about Fallout 3 though blazah99. Last I checked it was gritty and single player sure, but it was quite story driven, and the explanation was all around .... even your character's origin ... I THINK they also mention the father's origin as well. it has been a while since I last played it.

But hey enjoy best pony princesses! :comeatus:

Bad puns, the cheesier it is the better! Those kinds of puns can just about always put a smile on my face, and many can even make me laugh I just love puns in general.

*edit* Also like others have said, Wii/Wii U. Nintendo deserves the good business, they listen to their fans and offer the most fun console in my opinion. Games are more about fun rather than competition and violent things. As far as I know they don't pull any DLC or micro transaction nonsense that everyone else seems to be doing. If anyone deserves support by gamers. Its Nintendo.

So I haven't upgraded to Windows 10 yet because of this problem: People are saying that if you upgrade to Windows 10, you can't upgrade your hardware or it will detect it as a different computer than from the PC you upgraded to Windows 10 from. This isn't an issue on copies of Windows 10 you bought not upgraded. Some people may not care because you're not gamers or don't upgrade your hardware, but this is a massive problem for me.

Strange, although I do recall reading about such an issue, the one I read was from upgrading the motherboard, which makes sense if it thinks your suddenly using a completely different computer since that is the biggest of all things to replace. We should look up more details about that issue you mentioned though.

My PC is 100% fine until I put it in sleep mode (which is what I do instead of turning it off) but every time I would turn it back on, the taskbar would glitch. And when I mean 'glitch,' I mean the search bar would continue loading and loading and thus would not allow searching at all (unless you're searching for a loading screen and if so, congrats! you found it), the windows icon (on the taskbar) would not open up and the volume adjuster messed up and would only work if you opened the volume mixer (which is hideous to look at) but it would work fine if you restarted the computer. 

 

I decided to update my graphics card to the latest driver and haven't had a problem since.

 

And for some people with glitching/freezing taskbars, opening up command prompt as an admin, typing "sfc /scannow" (without the quotation marks) and restarting the pc fixed the issue, but there's no way to know for sure unless you try it yourself.

My computer seems fine with sleep mode, though I have a particular quirk to deal with when i let it idle though. Such as when I leave Firefox running and I return from idle (monitor goes to sleep mode rather than the PC) the interface completely messes up and is unreadable until i close it and re-open it. Minimizing and hovering the mouse over the interface wouldn't fix it either.

I updated my graphics driver (AMD) to the latest version as soon as I upgraded to windows 10. Though I still have not updated my motherboard drivers since all it has available are my audio (realtek HD audio) drivers, which seem to work fine anyways. However I do plan on installing that soon.

I was enjoying Windows 10, really I was. Then suddenly I had a RANDOM DEVASTATING ISSUE, which I will describe here as well as give a solution. Which ironically you will not be able to read if you have the same problem I did.

Long detailed story:

Summary: if your taskbar suddenly stops working and will not be fixed even after waiting and restarting (especially several attempts) System restore from the Control Panel to the nearest checkpoint and hope it works.

Discussion: for the sake of Windows 10 users on this forum, you should post the quirks and problems (especially big ones) and hopefully your solutions to dealing with them. I absolutely had to share the SERIOUS problem I had to deal with